Katrina Emergency Services Personnel I would like to introduce myself and the FORTE Counseling and Training Center available for our Nation’s emergency services personnel. I established the FORTE Foundation in 2001 to serve law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, trauma nurses, and other first responders by providing training and counseling services. I speak internationally on dealing with the aftermath of trauma and authored two books, The Will to Survive and Visions of Courage: the Bobby Smith Story. I know firsthand the horrors of traumatic, psychological stress. In 1986, as a police officer, I suffered a shotgun blast to the face by a drug dealer and was left permanently blind. Since then, I have obtained my masters degree in education and a doctorate in Counseling/Psychology. I have dedicated my life to the training and peer counseling of emergency services personnel. To learn more about my international training seminars, please visit www.visionsofcourage.com. Lastly, I would like to share some devastating statistics that depict the frightening reality of cop distress. On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in America every 53 hours. Two cops a day will commit suicide. Studies show that domestic violence occurs in up to 40 percent of law enforcement marriages- more than twice the national average for couples- and is common in the background of cops who kill themselves. In each of the past 10 years, an average of 164 police officers have died in the line of duty in the United States, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. This year alone some 18,000 law enforcement officers will leave their jobs as a result of the stress, both physical and emotional, they deal with every day. The need has never been greater than now to offer a solution to the growing epidemic of traumatic stress related issues. Sincerely, Bobby E. Smith Executive Director Taken three years prior to his shooting on March 14, 1986.  National/International motivational speaker and trainer focusing on dealing with the aftermath of trauma; see www.visionsofcourage.com for more information  11 year police veteran  Retired LA State Trooper shot in the face and blinded by a drug dealer, 1986  Ph.D. Counseling/Psychology; Masters of Education, emphasis in Exercise Physiology  Crisis Negotiator  Critical Incident Stress Debriefed  Author of “Visions of Courage” and “The Will to Survive”  Commissioned Police Chaplain  Founder/Director FORTE (Foundation for Officers Recovering from Traumatic Events)  Police Peer Counselor  Military Order of the Purple Heart National Law Enforcement Citation, 1988  Kiwanis International “Lawman of the Year”, 1984, and U.S. Trooper of the Year, 1987